A rabbi once met a Buddhist monk. The monk invited the rabbi into his temple, but the rabbi refused saying, "I am not allowed to enter a house of idol worship". The monk asked why. The rabbi answered, "Because worshipping an object is an affront to G-d".

The monk took a small Buddha statue out of his pocket, looked at the rabbi with a calm smile and threw the statue onto the ground, smashing it to pieces.

The monk asked the startled rabbi, "Now tell me, would you do that with your Torah scrolls? If not, who is it that makes idols?"

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

This offering maybe right, or wrong, but it is one, the other, both, or neither!Blog,-Some Suttas Translated,Ajahn Chah."Others will misconstrue reality due to their personal perspectives, doggedly holding onto and not easily discarding them; We shall not misconstrue reality due to our own personal perspectives, nor doggedly holding onto them, but will discard them easily. This effacement shall be done."

I like this story of the Christian missionary who approaches a Chinese monk who is sitting quietly in a temple and asks of the monk, "What are you doing?" The monk says, "You would say I am praying." The missionary then asks, "What are you praying for?" The monk says, "Nothing." Puzzled, the missionary asks, "Well, then, to whom are you praying?" The monk answers, "To no one." Perplexed, not understanding this at all, the missionary turns to leave and as he is walking away, the monk calls to the missionary and says, "And don't forget, there is no one praying."

I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond.SN I, 38.

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine.People live in one another’s shelter.

tiltbillings wrote:I like this story of the Christian missionary who approaches a Chinese monk who is sitting quietly in a temple and asks of the monk, "What are you doing?" The monk says, "You would say I am praying." The missionary then asks, "What are you praying for?" The monk says, "Nothing." Puzzled, the missionary asks, "Well, then, to whom are you praying?" The monk answers, "To no one." Perplexed, not understanding this at all, the missionary turns to leave and as he is walking away, the monk calls to the missionary and says, "And don't forget, there is no one praying."

I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.

Was putting off meditating just now. This story made me smile, and laugh, and then want to meditate. Thank you. -dilexi

gene wrote:Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!

I remember reading on "the other site" a year or two ago the very same story, only the rupa the monk smashed was at the entrance to the monastery (I had pictured the monk picking up some three-foot tall stone Buddha with both hands over his head and smashing it to make a tremendous scene and then very quietly making his point to the aghast rabbi!).

"The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement."-- Ajahn Chah, Living Dhamma

"To reach beyond fear and danger we must sharpen and widen our vision. We have to pierce through the deceptions that lull us into a comfortable complacency, to take a straight look down into the depths of our existence, without turning away uneasily or running after distractions." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi

gene wrote:Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!

I remember reading on "the other site" a year or two ago the very same story, only the rupa the monk smashed was at the entrance to the monastery (I had pictured the monk picking up some three-foot tall stone Buddha with both hands over his head and smashing it to make a tremendous scene and then very quietly making his point to the aghast rabbi!).

lol Texans do like to think big.

Nice anecdote as this story is I hope its circulation won't enourage hot-blooded young buddhists to take up statue-smashing to make a point about Buddhism's stance on idoltry. If I'm not mistaken I read somewhere that destroying images of the Buddha incurs bad karma. The Afghan Taliban was overthrown not long after its destruction of the Bamiyan statues.